In recent years, students at EHS have taken one day out of the year, in which they spend the second half of the school day giving back to the community, but this giveback day may be a poor use of everyone’s time. 

The first giveback day took place during the 2021-2022 school year, and it followed the school’s career day. In the weeks prior to giveback day, students were able to choose what they would do to help the community in their individual advising classes. 

Some classes visited the elementary schools to spend time with the next generation of Eaton Reds, and some walked through the town, picking up trash and cleaning up the community. Other classes stayed in the building and worked on projects that could benefit the community. While giveback day seems like a good idea, it wasn’t without flaws.

Junior Dylan Queen said, “A majority of the students didn’t show up because because everyone just wanted to go home after taking such a long test rather than spend three to four more hours at the school.”

The largest issue was attendance. Because there was no penalty for not attending the giveback day activities, many students chose not to. In fact, some teachers did not take attendance at all, leaving students with the option to ditch the second half of the day. 

Junior Quirt Carrol said, “My giveback [activity] was cool because we wrote thank you letters to first responders and military members, but some of the activities should have been done anyways. People should just pick up trash on their own. I think there was other stuff that would have been more productive.”

With attendance lacking, nothing got done at these activities. Classes that were sent to pick up trash didn’t have enough people to cover their designated area, and some students attended, but they did not do a good job. 

So how can EHS turn giveback day into a fulfilling and successful day? Remove the option. If attendance is mandatory, there would be a significant increase in attendance to giveback day. If a class’s giveback day activity was incorporated into their advising grade, then students might be motivated to do a good job. There is no possible way to achieve one hundred percent attendance, but these changes could significantly improve the current numbers.